After Camp Fire, family and friends make derailed wedding happen

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Christa and Timo Kien married the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2018 at the home of Pete and Betsy Giampaoli in Chico. The wedding was arranged by family and friends, because their original plans were delayed when the couple lost their home in the Camp Fire. (Submitted photo)

Christa and Timo Kien were married Dec. 31, 2018 in Chico. Among those attending were their 3-year-old twins, Mason and Calvin. The wedding was postponed when they lost everything in the Camp Fire. (Mary Nugent — Enterprise-Record)

CHICO — For Betsy Giampaoli, a wedding on Dec. 31 was a glimpse of a better year ahead. “The ceremony was so touching. She never took her eyes off him, and he never took his eyes off her. They just stared at each other. It was wonderful,” she said.

Giampaoli is talking about the wedding for Christa Palmer and Timo Kien, formerly of Paradise, who married at her home on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve.

Attended by about 30 family members and friends, the wedding was truly a celebration because getting there wasn’t easy. It had been planned twice before, and the couple had been through a lot.

“The first wedding was canceled because Timo’s mother died, very suddenly. They canceled it the second time because the Camp Fire took Christa’s wedding dress, everything. Their home. They tried twice, and they sort of gave up,” said Giampaoli. “They just had to put it on hold.”

The bride’s father also died last year. “It was a rough year,” said Kien.

A tile contractor, Kien works for Giampaoli’s husband and son. “A bunch of us were talking about what we could do about this. Timo’s grandmother, Pam Schultz, was here from Florida, and she extended her stay so we could plan something,” said Giampaoli.

Plan they did, and the wedding actually happened about a week later. Among those attending were the couple’s 3-year-old twins, Mason and Calvin.

“This wedding was 11 years in the making,” Kien said. A dress for the bride was borrowed, and friends and family took care of all the details.

“We had eight days to prepare, and it was fine,” said the bride. “When you have lost so much but you still have what counts — your family — the details don’t seem so important and you say, why wait?”

There was only one negative aspect, said Giampaoli. “A lot of people were sick, including the bride and even the twins. Everyone gathered, but no one talked about the fire or being sick. It was all about happy things.”

The couple, now newlyweds, began their journey living outside of Paradise by standing in line to apply for an apartment in Chico. They had their twins and Kien’s father with them.

Giampaoli remembers they were getting ready to apply, when another couple who had just been accepted for one of the apartments approached them. “They asked them, are you from the fire? They tore up their application and gave the apartment to Christa and Timo,” she said.

Down the road, the Kiens will have a new home in Chico, being built by Pete Giampaoli’s company.

Kien said he and his new wife are so grateful for all they help they have received since the fire, the generosity of the couple who gave them their apartment, and for Betsy Giampaoli and Pam Schultz, his grandmother. “Without them, the wedding never would have happened,” he said.